Don't Kill the Messenger
by Dragonflyr
Summary: This story was created to fill the gap in time in the series between when Kurama joined Yomi and Raizen died. Full summary inside. Please R


I'm beginning to think I have ADD or something. No, really. I start a story, and then I abandon it for another idea and so on and so forth. It's ridiculous, but apparently a habit I can't break. Anyway, I just got the newest YYH DVD. It's called "Bandits and Kings" and it has the two episodes where Kurama first joins Yomi. Anyway, in the last episode, when Raizen dies, they skip forward a year in time. I got to thinking about what happened during that year and so, this story was born.

Basically, unlike my other stories, this one doesn't quite have a set plot. It takes place at the end of the episode when Kurama kills Yomi's former second in command and settles in to be Yomi's new advisor, as well as after he brings Touya, Jin, Rinku, Chuu, Shishi, and Suzuki (the Beautiful Suzuki) to add to Yomi's army. Basically, Koenma creates a genetically engineered human (which will be explained in the story) named Hani, meaning Honey. She becomes a negotiator, which is to say she brings messages to and from the respective lords as well as within their territories too, the whole purpose of this being mostly to keep Koenma clued in on what is going on over there since Reikai only has control over such a small portion of the Makai. Raizen, Yomi, and Mukuro are by no means stupid and they realize Koenma's motives from the start, but decided to allow Hani to perform her job for the sake that it makes communication easier for them. As time goes on, however, Hani begins to wonder about who she really is, if she has some purpose beyond being a mere messenger, and where she truly belongs. So, enjoy! ON WITH THE FIC!

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**H**ani soared through the air, her short, dark green hair whipping around her head. Her bright amber eyes glistening in the early morning sun. How she loved this. Being so high...she felt as though she had control, and that was something a human in a world of demons didn't often feel. Her paper wings flapped on either side, being surprisingly silent. You would think that paper would crinkle and crunch, but no, these wings were utterly soundless.

Yes, paper. In her opinion it was the best power a person could have. She could make anything if she had enough paper, though wings were her favorite. They made travel easy, fast, and quite enjoyable as well. As much as she loved the power, however, she found it odd that in all the Makai, she hadn't ever met another person...er...demon who could do such a thing. There were plenty of fire demons and air demons and ice, earth, and water. And many others that didn't seem to have an element but manifested their energy directly into attacks instead of using some form of matter as a medium. But still, in all that variety, she had never met another paper user. Why was that? She wasn't sure. You would think she had been in Makai long enough now to have...wait, how long had she been here? Again, she wasn't sure. Forever? That seemed odd, she was human after all. So why did she have no memories of Ningenkai?

Hani's thoughts were cut short as Yomi's city came into view. Yomi...he was scary, all the lords were, but out of the three she felt most at home here. Mukuro was just plain creepy and Raizen...she avoided Raizen at all costs. Yomi had his own quirks. The way he could tell which way you were looking by the heat radiating off your eyeballs or the way he could tell your exact emotion at any given moment by the pace of your heartbeat almost to the point it seemed he was reading your thoughts. All the same, he treated her...nicely. Less like a servant (or food in Raizen's case), more like a person. Of course, there was one drawback from visiting Yomi's territory...

The whirl of an engine could be heard, cutting through the clam predawn. Hani sighed. Yomi took great pleasure in making her go through an obstacle course of guards every time she came. Technically, under Koenma's Law of the Neutral Messenger, she was supposed to be safe from being attacked. Unfortunately for her, Reikai laws didn't hold much water in Makai, especially in Yomi's territory. She had no idea why he did this. After all, despite the fact that he was always watching his screen, it wasn't like he could see what was happening. Or could he? Could he sense it? Or hear and smell it maybe? Hani shivered at the though. Maybe Yomi wasn't much better then the other two after all.

A guard flew into view before her, followed closely by three more. She sighed. She especially detested the "Byrds" they rode. These Byrds were crude in her opinion, completely undeserving to share the sky she loved so much. They were crafts that looked slightly reminiscent of some UFO from a bad science fiction movie, or maybe something out of Star Wars. They were composed of a wooden platform with two wings strutting awkwardly out at each side. A steering wheel, much like bicycle handlebars, rose from a pole about five feet from the platform. The whole thing was powered by a jet engine mounted on the bottom that ran on some demon fuel that gave off a bright green glow. The whole think looked like someone had tried to make an airplane out of a bike and failed miserably. Kameda, the one who had created the monstrosities often defended them against Hani's verbal attacks against them, which led to the two developing a playfully hateful relationship that prevented them from being in the same room together without starting a fight.

The guards flew towards her and Hani rolled her eyes. This was too easy. With a smile, she decided to finish this quickly rather then waste her remaining paper in a fight she had no doubt she would win with ease anyway. She stopped where she was and hovered, wings beating the air around her furiously to stay aloft. She waited. The guards drew closer, gaining speed. She waited. Claws, swords, and spears were held at the ready as the Byrds drew closer. She waited. The four pushed their crafts to maximum speed, bursting forward faster still and leaving a thick, acid green cloud behind. She waited. The guard with the spear threw it...and hit empty air. She had been waiting for the attack. As soon as the demon pulled his hand back, she folded her arms across her chest with the hands on her shoulders, went completely erect, and folded her wings around her. She fell.

The speed picked up around her, the air naturally flipping her body into a face first free fall. The demons on their Byrds fallowed, angling straight downward in their chase. _'Bakas,'_ she muttered to herself upon glancing back to see this. Did they honestly think they had the kind of skill necessary to pull up in time? Well, they would find out soon enough. The ground was coming up fast, but Hani took no notice. He short hair whipped back and her ever growing speed was stinging tears to her eyes, but she loved it. This, this adrenaline rush, this was what she lived for!

The grass was coming up fast and she smiled. _'Time to see what these Byrds can really do,'_ she thought, readying herself, pulling her wings from around her body by a fraction of an inch. Fifty feet to the ground. She let her hands slid down to her sides, slowly moving her arms out and away from the body. Twenty feet. She changed her angle, but only slightly, now at something more like 110 degrees aimed at the ground instead of the strait 90 she had been a moment before. Seven feet.

She extended her wings and through her arms out at once, a good bit of paper ripping free and fluttering behind her. She leveled out, so close to the ground that she could feel the grass – still wet with morning dew – graze her stomach. Just as she suspected, there was a deafening crash from behind her. Giggling, she flew up a few feet and then turned, perching herself at the tip of a tree. Her giggles turned to a full laughing fit as she found just what she had expected; four unconscious guards tangled in a heap of burning Byrd rubble.

With one last smile, she turned and resumed her mission, flying towards Yomi's building, the largest in the city.

**(xxx)**

**Y**omi chuckled to himself as he and Kurama stood before the screen, having just witnessed Hani's encounter with the guards.

"Who is that girl?" Kurama asked. Yomi didn't seem at all concerned but then, Yomi had yet to appear truly _upset _about anything while in Kurama's presence. Judging by Yomi's reaction, Kurama was tempted to assume that this was a normal occurrence. But then, why had he never met this girl before?

"Koenma didn't tell you?" Yomi asked. _'Koenma? What does he have to do with this?'_ Kurama wondered. "No," was his answer to Yomi.

Yomi smiled pleasantly and began to walk down the hall, Kurama instinctively following. "She is a creation of his, secret from his father I would imagine. He _gave_ her to us to use as a messenger whom we could all trust to bare messages between us, Raizen, Mukuro, and myself that is. His true reason, of course, was to use her to keep an eye on us, but the girl seems sincerely unaware of that. In fact, she seems unaware of a lot of things."

"Unaware? How so?"

"For example," Yomi explained, leading Kurama up a flight of stairs, "she doesn't realize how young she truly is." Yomi could sense Kurama's confusion in the way the heat from his eyes became more intense as he narrowed them in thought, and so continued. "She was only created just before I sent for you and has been working as our messenger for even less time, and yet she acts as though she's been doing it for years. I believe this is due to the natural reaction her mind has had to her existence. You see, she has no memories before a human month ago, and yet she has no false ones to fill that gap. She believes herself to be fifteen years old and understands that such a lack of memories is not possible, and so her mind is compensating by creating false memories out of what she already knows to be the natural rhythm of life."

"What kind of memories?" Kurama inquired.

"Well...she's terrified of Raizen for one thing. She's never delivered a single message to him directly, so her mind has fabricated a memory of some horrible encounter to justify this. It makes sense when you think about it. She knows his history, how starved he is and how dangerous it would be if she, a human, were to meet him face to face. She's never spoken of whatever she fears directly, but the way she reacts to his name, I can only guess that she imagines that he must have tried to end his hunger strike with her. Ah, Kameda," Yomi ended his speech by greeting the old demon as he joined them, coming from another side corridor to the main hallway they were in now.

"That damned girl," Kameda muttered, "destroying my hard work so carelessly!"

"You mean your _ugly _work!" a young, female voice cried from the end of the corridor. They turned to see the girl in question walking briskly towards them, a bright smile on her face despite the insult she had spoken. She had short green hair and intelligent golden eyes. She was short as well, not quite as short as Hiei, but definitely below the norm for her age. She wore a white, sleeveless shirt that was held together by many interwoven white cords in the back. She also had white pants that were slit down either outer side from the knee down, held together by more white cords just as the shirt was. She wore no shoes and her bare feet must have been chilled against the cold black floor.

"Those...those...things are an eyesore, Kameda! Someone should burn the lot of them," she huffed, glaring at the elderly demon whom she was almost eye level with. Almost, but not quite.

"Wh...you..." Kameda sputtered angrily, so lost in the emotion that he was at a complete loss for words.

Yomi chuckled from behind them, Kurama the only one to take notice. "I take it they always fight like this?" Kurama asked, distinctly reminded of Yusuke and Kuwabara's antics.

"Wait, it gets better," Yomi smiled, "they'll start with the short jokes any second."

"How dare a little insect like you insult my work!" Kameda spat.

"You're calling _me_ little!" Hani countered. "If that ain't the pot calling the kettle black."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kameda growled, confused by the Ningenkai terminology.

"It means that you've got no right to call me short. Have you looked in the mirror lately? Oh wait, maybe that's not such a good idea, it'd probably shatter trying to reflect your ugly mug!"

"At least I'm tall enough to reach a mirror!"

"You're so short, you're practically 2-D!"

"Insolent girl"

"Garden gnome!"

"What the hell is a garden gnome!"

"Hani," Yomi spoke calmly, making Hani jump as she realized the lord had been standing there the whole time.

"Y-your lordship!" she squeaked, her cheeks going red with embarrassment.

"I believe you have a message for me?" Yomi prompted the flustered girl.

"Oh! Oh yeah. Somewhere here..." she trailed off, beginning to search all the pockets of her pants. "Sure hope I didn't drop it..." She glanced up and ceased her searching as her eyes fell on Kurama. "Who are you?"

"This is Kurama, Kurama this is Hani," Yomi cut in before Kurama could respond. Then he turned to Hani and said in an almost fatherly manner, "You have to snap dear, remember?"

"Oh! Right!" Hani gave a nervous laugh as she snapped her fingers. There was a burst of light above her hand and then a scroll fell into her palm. "I keep forgetting that Koenma-sama upgraded this..." she muttered, reaching into yet another pocket for a pen.

She held the tip of the scroll in her fingers and flicked her wrist as though she were playing with a yo-yo. Instantly, the scroll fell open. Feet upon feet of paper unraveled, Hani quickly going through it to find the spot she wanted.

"Ah! Here we go!" She cleared her throat and began to read. "From General Kazu in the west: Economy stable, government still pending. Strange energy signals from Reikai territory, will look into it. Interrogate Koenma?" Hani put a line through the writing as she finished reading it, and poised herself to take down Yomi's response.

"A strange energy signal? I need more information on that. Asking Koenma should be done as well, although I doubt we'll get much out of him."

"Why not send Kurama to see the Reikai brat?" Kameda offered. Hani opened her mouth to defend the prince of the underworld when Yomi interrupted.

"Yes, Kurama, you may indeed be just the person to get the results we want. Why don't you accompany Hani to Reikai tomorrow afternoon? Let's say...the sixth hour?"

"A-accompany me?" Hani squeaked. She hated to admit that she was shy...but there really was no other word for it.

"Yes. Alright with you Kurama?" Yomi concluded. The fox merely nodded. "Good then. Hani, send my message to Kazu and then you may spend the night here and depart for Reikai tomorrow with Kurama."

"Y-yes sir," Hani sighed. What else could she say?

"One request though..." she ventured.

"Yes?" Yomi asked, turning back from having turned around in preparation of leaving.

"Could you call the guards off when I come back? I-I mean...I know you like watching me beat the snot outta them and all...and I don't deny I like smashing the stupid Byrds," this earned a contemptuous glare from Kameda, "but...it gets kinda tedious after a while, especially twice in one day."

Yomi chuckled once more. "Very well."


End file.
